Early Childhood Matters is now online! Read, discuss and share individual articles on a new dedicated website.
Community violence: The new edition of Early Childhood Matters, on the subject of Community violence and young children: making space for hope, looks at the effects on young children of growing up in a violent community, and explores interventions from around the world which are offering practical solutions.
Healthy environments: The latest in the Early Childhood in Focus series of briefing notes, co-published with the Open University, shows the importance of physical environment as intimately linked to the process of growth and development of skills and identity of the child.
The Bernard van Leer Foundation is an international grantmaking foundation based in The Hague.
Our mission is to improve opportunities for children up to age 8 who are growing up in socially and economically difficult circumstances. We see this both as a valuable end in itself and as a long-term means to promoting more cohesive, considerate and creative societies with equal opportunities and rights for all.
Latest news from the Bernard van Leer Foundation
Hand in Hand wins intercultural learning prize
17-04-2006
Israeli partner Hand in Hand has won first prize in the BMW Group's prestigious International Learning awards, beating competition from 26 countries. The award recognises the Learning to Live Together programme, which teaches mixed groups of children in both Hebrew and Arabic, for "build[ing] a new foundation for the next generation to live as partners". Read more on Hand in Hand's website.
AIDS awareness literacy challenges
13-04-2006
"Very bad things can happen to orphans. List some of those things in the space provided." Sarah Leeper reports from Durban, South Africa, on the challenges of putting together literacy materials which sensitise young children to the realities of HIV/AIDS - without scaring them senseless. Read more
Israeli project's new website
02-04-2006
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has launched a new website, the Early Childhood Learning and Resource Center (ECLRC), which makes available resources in Hebrew and English on the "Learning To Live Together" project and other field projects.
Family literacy in the news
02-04-2006
South Africa's Sunday World newspaper features the work of new BvLF partner the Family Literacy Project.
New online forum for Scottish Highlands
17-03-2006
Connections is a new online forum bringing together government and voluntary agencies working in the early years in the Highlands region of Scotland. One of its founding members, Highland Preschool Services, is connected to our Glasgow-based partner CAF.
Research on child conflict resultion
14-03-2006
Elly Singer and Dorian De Haan from the Faculty of Child Psychology at the University of Utrecht, together with Anke van Keulen of Bureau Mutant , have published research results from the "Young kids coping with conflict" project, which explores the impact of culture on children's conflict resolution and the role of adults. The research studied 96 children playing in multicultural childcare centres. A book for practitioners, Kijken, Kijken, Kijken (in Dutch), is now available.
Report on care for Tanzanian pastoralist children
13-03-2006
The Monduli Pastoralist Development Initiative collaborates with families, communities and service providers in improving care for young pastoralist children in Tanzania. Read more about the context, methodology and challenges of their work in this report (pdf, 1.6mb) - summary (pdf, 799kb), prepared for BvLF by AMANI.
Mothers Centres campaign gathers pace
10-03-2006
The first questionnaire results are coming in from around the world in response to the first stage of the international campaign: "How do we want to raise our children?", run by the Mothers Centre International Network for Empowerment (MINE) and the Union of Slovak Mothers Centres. For further information aboput the campaign and how you can join the debate, see the campaign website.
ACEPP protests against delinquency tracking
09-03-2006
BvLF partner ACEPP (Association des Collectifs Enfants Parents Professionnels) asks you to join them in a campaign against proposals in France to create a national register tracking behaviour in young children which could be considered as indicators of future delinquency. Further information (in French) from ACEPP's website.
Children without parental care
03-03-2006
A new issue of the Bernard van Leer Foundation's journal, Early Childhood Matters, is now available. Guest-edited by Nigel Cantwell, this edition of ECM looks at the issue of children without parental care, with articles from Canada, Cambodia, Thailand, Guatemala, Tunisia and South Africa.
